Performance review generator

Performance reviews are most useful when they are specific, balanced and forward-looking, and hardest to write when a manager has several to finish in one week. This generator produces a structured review draft from ratings and notes, which you then personalise with real examples.

How to use it

1. Enter the employee's name, role and review period.
2. Rate the key competencies, such as quality of work, collaboration, communication and ownership.
3. Add short notes on achievements and areas to improve.
4. Review the generated summary, feedback and goals, and edit them with concrete examples.

What a strong review contains

• Summary: overall performance in two or three sentences.
• Achievements: specific results with impact, such as reduced invoice processing time from 5 days to 2.
• Strengths: behaviours to keep doing.
• Growth areas: one to three priorities, described as behaviour, not personality.
• Goals for the next period: written as SMART goals.

SMART goal example

Instead of improve communication, write: Share a written weekly status update with stakeholders every Friday, starting next month, and run the Q1 project kick-off independently by 31 January. It is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

Fair reviews

• Use evidence from the whole period, not just recent events (recency bias).
• Describe observable behaviour and results.
• Apply the same standard to everyone in similar roles.
• Nothing in the review should be a surprise; raise issues when they happen.
• Use the SBI model for feedback: Situation, Behaviour, Impact.